In general, pizza ovens are constructed as a single unit and are then shipped to the customer. These units are extremely heavy, weighing approximately 1000 pounds, and are large and difficult to handle. Due to the large size and weight, the customer often must hire an installation service which specializes in moving and installing heavy machinery. Such installation can often be difficult and at times dangerous given the confined spaces in which pizza ovens are often installed, such as restaurants or pizza shops, and the bulky size and weight of the oven unit. As a result, there is a high cost of shipping to the customer, as well as the cost of installation.
Such pizza ovens are generally assembled by the manufacturer using riveting, tech screws, and welding, and thus are not easily disassembled. Thus, when repair of the pizza oven is necessary, either the entire pizza oven unit is sent to a repair center, a repair technician comes to the site where the unit is located, or the entire unit is replaced by a new unit. Each of these options has its disadvantages because of the costs involved, such as shipping costs, service call costs, or replacement costs, especially in the instance where only a minor repair is required. In addition, unless the owner of the pizza oven has a backup oven, there is also the cost in lost production time while awaiting the repair or replacement.
Some pizza ovens utilize what are known as fingers or finger assemblies to direct heated air in a bake chamber toward a product be baked. The fingers are elongated, generally rectangular, hollow, box-like structures which are enclosed and have a plurality of holes in one of the elongated sides through which heated air exits. The finger assembly is open on one end, which is placed over a corresponding hole in the oven plenum wall and is to be held tightly against the oven plenum wall portion surrounding the hole. Heated air is conducted through the hole in the plenum wall and into the finger, which air is then forced out of the holes in one of the elongated sides of the finger assembly toward the product being baked. The finger assemblies are often supported using angle iron rails or by a technique of sliding the fingers in along a front rail. This design does not maintain pressure against the finger assembly allowing the outer cover of the finger assembly to slide off the finger housing. When the outer cover is not properly in place on the finger housing the oven does not bake correctly. A large gap sometimes as large as 0.75 inches can be found in the rear of the finger assembly causing a loss of air pressure in the fingers and an uneven bake in the oven. Such designs have room for the housing to move, which allows leaking and loss of some pressure in the finger housing. The reason for leaving the finger housing loose is to allow for expansion and contraction during the heating process. Unfortunately, such movement of the finger housing may cause uneven airflow and pressure, which causes the oven to lose some of its baking efficiency.
Most pizza ovens bake only at one air flow setting and one corresponding conveyor speed. Since the oven is on throughout a normal business day, the same amount of energy is utilized during slower business times when only a few products are being cooked or baked in a given amount of time as is used during faster or peak business times when several or many products are being cooked or baked in a given amount of time.